RACING. DONALD CUP MEETING. A LARGE ATTENDANJE. DREX WINS THE CUP. A rcaord attendance witnessed the i Donald Cup on Wednesday last, includ ing visitors from Birchip, St. Arnaud, i Woomelang, Mildura, and the metropolis.1 The weather conditions were all that j could be desired, tho arrangements wer» well in hand, and the racing was excep tionally good, several winners getting the judge's Terdict by a short head. L)rox won the cup in fine style, Valwielt just beating tho favorite, Clumettui, for second place. Drer was not a good winner for tho "books," as ho was well backed at fair prices. The fact that £177 was taken in admission fees at tho gates indicates the attendance which was estimated at nearly 3000, and it is ex pected that the club will show a profit ef about £200 on the day. Results:— Maiden Plate—Z.B. 1, Weroona 2, Clean Sample 3. Four to 1 the winner. ■:'xiuruiov-jM.uo— Harem 2t. .Baroni»l.S. Evens th»'winner. Trial Handicap—Diamond Bracelet ), Last Dream 3, Donola 3. Tw...

Our Melbourne Letter. (Feoh a Coebebpondbki) The absence of the closure in tlio State Parliament undoubtedly puts State ministers at a grave disadvantage b« compared wi'h their Commonwealth brethren in dealing with borcB and time wasters. As I write tho Assembly is furnishing a striking instance of this truism. As every one knows there re mains little or nothing to be dono for this session except to pass the estimates which should hare been dealt with two nipntbs ago. Mr Hannah, Mr J. W. Billison and one or two other Labor irro coneileables, however, determined to Veep the House sitting, and are making futile attempts to get equal pay for female teachers to that given to males. When ministers saw early in the morn ing that their friends oppoeito were out simply for obstruction they wisely determined to givo tho reporters (Han sard and newspaper men alike) a holiday and bad the galleries cleared. This an noyed the stonewallorB who dearly love to see their names mentioned in the Press...

Correspondence* THE LOCTDCRY OF CHURCHES. TO TUB EDITOIt. ■ Sir,—The council of churches, church federation, and a parliament of religions all. lead in the one direction, viz., to a union of church and state. The ilible in the State school movement is only a subordinate move in the same direction. These religious confederacies, with tho confederacies of trade behind them, mark the intentions of the age. Tho Scriptures foretell a fiual union of the church and state. Active agencies everywhere, which do not perceive the danger in final rosults, are working blindly for the downfall ot' frpwiam—both civil and religious. These endeavors are being made by the churches in high authority with the idea of con solidating their power. The power which the church ■ aim3 for, and unwisely ima gines it needs, ia the power ot'the State. Wfiilo the churches are confederating for a state union, the trade confederacies aro combining for the nid of civil powor also, i A. very subtle influence, as far a...

Superior Improved Wheat Farms. WITHIN THE REACH OF AL MOST EVERY LAND SEEKER. EXCEPTIONAL TERMS. Hain &amp; Searight, of 12 Loftus- j street-, Sydney, the well-known.pro perty salesmen, are offering in suit able farming areas, 9000 acres of charmingly undulating wheat land, in the heart of thoNcw South Wales •wheat belt, which has held the record yield of the State for many years, and enjoys an annual rainfall of about 22£ inches.. It is close to a large town posses sing exceptional -railway and econo mic facilities. Tho terms are most considerate from a farmer's point of view. The instalments at the com mencement, when the farmer most needs money for development pur poses, are made very light, viz;— 5 per cent, deposit; 10 per cent, at the end of 2 years; 10 per cent, at the end of 5 years ; then 5 per cent, annually for three years; balance at the end of a further 5 years, interest being payablo throughout the whole period at the rate of per cent, per annum. Anyone requiring t...

NEWS FOR DEAD MAN LETTER TOO LATE. A clerk, Thomas Barnes Hope, who had been seeking work in vain for five or six weeks, committed suicide at hi3 lodgings in College street, Wands worth. Immediately afterwards the postman brought a letter for him offering him employment. His landlady, giving evidence at tho inquest yesterday (states "The Dally Express." December 2) said the letter arrived at 1.30 p.m. on Thursday. She took it upstairs, where ho lay on the kitchen floor—asleep, as she thought. At \ p.m. he seemed still asleep, and she then discovered that he was lying dead, with his head in the Eras oven. The Coroner said that had Hope wait ed he might have started again and been successful with his new work. In a letter to his son, Hope wrote:— "I am tired of tho world, and, with tho exception of a few friends, I think the world is tired of me. Floasd give my friends my deepest appreciation of their kindness to me; I cannot repay them. ■'I hope, Tom, your life will bo much happier t...

FRENCH LOAN REPLY TO GERMAN CHALLENGE] Tho French Cabinot, with faith In Its strength, proposed a vote of confidence th/s evening on the question of the £52,000,000. military loan to meet the German challenge, and tho measure was passed by 201 votes to 270 (says tho Paris correspondent of "Tho Daily Express" of December 2). Earlier In the day tho Deputy M. i Brousse had presented an amendment to increuse tho loan to £60,000,000 on | tho score of 1914 budget necessity. Af I ter dlBcusslon of the Treasury rc | quirements, M. Dumont, the Minlstor | of Finance, accepted the Brousse amendment. * This raised renewed opposition, how ever, and M. Barthou, the Premier, In tervening:, declared that he would not engage himself to the proposal to In crease tho loan, but held that the £52.000,000 figure was irreducible. "If the Chambor does not vote it,'' ho said, "It will bo another Govern 1 ment which will make tho same do mand." Finally tho Brousse amendment wr.a ( rejected by -a large majori...

IRONMASTER'S FORTUNE "UNKNOWN" MAN LEAVES £2,451,393 A man who was unknown to the | genera! public in this country, although j the firm of which ho was the head has a world-wide reputation, has left a fir tiine of £2.451,393. Ho 13 Mr William Weir, of Kildonan. chief partner in tho firm of Messrs William Balrd and Co., the .Glaspow ironmasters. The Inventory of tho personal estate was lodged with the Sheriff's Clerk, of Ayrshire at Ayr yesterday (says "Tho Daily Express" on December 2). Tho dudes on the property will amount to £337.660. The most interesting of Mr Weir's bequests are those to rolatives. Mr David Eucan .Wallace, his. grand nephew, who was married last week to Lady Idina Sackvllle, will receive £150.000 nnd three large estate. A ~lmilnr amount will go to Mr William White1,iw..a nephew, several nieces tire icC; £ nil,000 each, and other relatives will benefit, by amounts varying: be tween £25.000 and £S000.

KITCHENER? GREAT WORK PEASANTS IN HIS PAL.ACE A striking picture of tho work that Lord Kltchencr Is doing for Egypt as British Agent-Goneral and of tho Im pression hia picturcsquo and vigorous personality has-produced on tho native mind was forthcoming yesterday' (eaya "Tlio Dally Mall" of November 29) In conversation with G. N. Sarruf Bey, son of tho proprietor of tho well-known Cairo vornacular newspaper, "Al-.Mo kattam, who la now In London on the firm's business. Sarruf Boy Bald: Tho popularity onjoyed by Lord Kit chener In Egypt Is wider and more comprehensive than that enjoyed by any of his predecoaaora, I think one may safely say that Lord Kitchenor Is tho most popular flguro In Egypt to day. Ho has made all tho Egyptians, from tho Khedlvo down to the hum blest fellah (peasant), realise that he Is the friend of tlio Egyptians and under stands their needs. "EL LORD" AND THE VILLAGERS Ono hag only to go across to the Agency In Cairo any morning to un derstand the hold Lord Kitc...

PRINCE AND ACTRESS SEQUEL TO MARRIAGE Tho marriago of a prince with a music-hall perfortjier was yesterday the basis of a remarkable, action in tho Paris courts (says the Paris cor respondent of "The Dally Mail," De cember 5). Prince Auguste of Broglie-Revel married last year Mile. Jane Thylda, a music-hall artist. His brother. Prince Henri of Broglie-Revel, and his uncle. Count Robert of Clermont-Ton nerre, tho well-known sportsman, were, it appears, annoyed by the mar riage and the family broke oft all re lations with Prince Auguste and his bride. The uncle and brother de manded that the remains of Countess SoBthene of Clermont-Tonnerre and of Princess Henri of BroglierRevel should bo removed from the private chapel of the Castle of Loroy, where Prince Auguste and his wife live, and re-Interred in the family vault in the cemetery of Pero.la Chaise in Paris. A few days before his marriage Prince Augusto wrote to his uncle an nouncing that he proposed. In order "to regularise his po...

OBSTACLES OVERCOME FROM PORTER TO PROFESSOR . Humble rank and poverty, although foriiiidablo obstacles to anyone who wishes to attain prominence In the leirned profession In Russia, have been triumphantly overcome by a poor rcan. M. Prokaroff, who, after a fight against odds, has risen from the posi tion of college doorkeeper to an im portant appointmeit upon the educa tional staff of a university, says the St. Petersburg correspondent of "The Daily Citizen." M. Prokaro'f. the son of a cook, was a doorkeeper at the Lasareff Institute for the study of Oriental Philosophy. Here ne began to interest himself in the study of Oriental culture. He bor rowed books from students; and ac quired a knowledge of Oriental Ian gauges. Koon he became efficient in matters connected with the science of Orient. For two years Prokaroff studied in tently. His application to Oriental reading was, of course, continually in terfered with by his duties as door keeper, but on thoso occasions when he was stat...

DEVIL IN THE DUST FIENDS OF THIS SAND. (By Alan Ostler, "Daily Express* Special Correspondent). A atone a tiirow out on clthor hand From thla well-ordered path wo tread, Ana All the world is wild and Btraoge; Churcl and ghoul and DJInn and sprite Shall bear tis company to-Dlght, Kor wt have mrhed the Oldest Land, Wherein tho Powers of Darkncsa rango. —Kuayard Kipi.ng. Tho Sau Mountains (British , , Somaliland), Nov. 8. Abyssinia—I am glad to bo out of "—'3 a Christian country. It is popu lated by the least pleasing of black races, and has also a population of witches, wizards, gnomes, goblins, and a largo and varied assortment ol de vils. Even If you refuse to believe In fairies, good or bad, you will believe, when you have travelled in Menelek's land, in the devils of Abyssinia. You can see and smell and hoar some of them; and I have even shot one. Ho was a oust dovil, and I shot him four days ago. Do you remember, In tho travellers' tales you read as a child (tho Bruce and Mungo P...

BOUSES AND LIVES PENALTIES PAID. (By L. G. Clilozza Monoy, ill "Tho Daily News.") The dcath-rato of the United Kins: loin is 14,000 n year of the population. I'hls rate expresses the averaging of &amp;lt;mie wide variations—variations which express the difference between good lousing and bad housing. There are places where tho death-rato la about 20 per 1000; thore are other places whore it falls below 10 per 1000. :t is easier to state these things than to bring homo to tho mind the full re alisation of tholr meaning. Let me en deavor to convey their terrlblo import. To show what a death-rate may ho under decent conditions, that of East bourne Is about 10 to 1000. That also is about the death-rate of Hampstead. It Is also the death-rate of New Zealand. What would it mean to tho United '\Ingdoin if the death-rate of the whole "ountry could be reduced to tills figure, shown to be a possible figure by actual experience? It would mean a savins in tho United Kingdom of IS!,000 lives...

CHAPTER IX. Tho individual may have a long me mory, but the general public has a short one. Where the general public were concerned, the Hasted bank rob bery had ben consigned to tho lim bo 01' forgotten things, though an un expected, belated development, pro claimed by a sensational newspaper head-Hue, would bo enough to drag it forth. Men would think for a moment, and j say, "Of course!" Then they would recall the ca6e more or less vaguely. "The fellow'6 name was Stanmore, or Stan-something. What was the sen tence? Five or ten years? He was engaged to be .married, wasn't he? Didn't she faint in court, or something like that? A shop-girl, wasn't she?" But there was no oblivion for the man in the prison cell—he could not consign memories to a limbo. Every hour, every day, hit memories more deeply into heart and soul—as acid bites into metal. Thero were no bru tal warders at Stilchester gaol. The governor was a former army oilicor and a gentleman. But prison regula tions were prison ...

Bj- HENRY FARMER, Author of "Tho Money-Lender,'■ "12n Quiltry Street," "Bondage," etc. (All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER VIII.—Continued. Queenie's manner of accepting Mi chael Thome's offer of marriage was indeed unconventional. She had im molated herself on the family altar— for the family's sake, or perhaps for the sake of one member of the fam ily—.her.mother. 8he might have re fused Thome, anl 'left her father, Beryl, and her brother to fend for ■themselves; left Philip to pay the penalty of his 'theft. Quite frankly, she had grown to hate her father; she despised her brother. Beryl sho loved; hut Beryl with her training would have been in a position to earn her living independently of Thorno. "But lier mother's life depended on freedom from anxiety, constant atten tion, atid comfortable surroundings. Thome had supplied the wherewithal. Had Queenie been free to earu her living she would have had a commer cial value of about thirty to thirty five shillings a week. The rent of the r...